Users are increasingly using computer systems for a greater number of tasks. It is not uncommon for a user to have open on their computer at one time several applications when working on a single project. For example, the user may be using (i) a browser to perform World Wide Web (WWW) searches and access web-based applications; (ii) a word processor to generate documents comprising text, graphs, images and video; (iii) a spreadsheet to manipulate data; (iv) an email system to exchange email messages with others; and (v) a Short-Message-System (SMS) application to exchange SMS messages with others. In addition to the above, many users are required to work on multiple projects. When working on a second project, some users prefer to close or hide any document windows and applications associated with the first project to avoid confusion and unwanted data exchange with the second project. While this approach maintains separation between projects it requires discipline and time and may not be practical for many users who must switch quickly between projects during a workday. Other users may leave open the document windows and applications associated with the first project. This is likely the more common scenario for many users and results in clutter, which can lead to confusion, additional work and possible intermingling of information between projects. A user may have open a web browser with tabs or windows containing search results and applications for multiple projects, a word processor with documents for multiple projects, an email program with emails for multiple projects, etc.
A partial solution to the increasing amount of information consumed by computer users, as described above, has been to use larger computer monitors to permit a larger amount of information to be displayed at one time. Another related solution has been to employ multiple monitors.
Other solutions, include virtual monitors, sometimes referred to as workspaces, such as the Spaces feature of macOS® by Apple Inc or the Virtual Desktops feature of Windows® by Microsoft Corporation, which derive from a 1986 paper from Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Intelligent Systems Laboratory (Henderson, D. A.; Card, S. K. Rooms: the use of multiple virtual workspaces to reduce space contention in a window-based graphical user interface ACM Transactions on Graphics. 1986 July; 5 (3): 211-243). These solutions attempt to achieve with virtual monitor software the increased screen space achieved by larger or multiple monitors, by permitting the user to move easily between what appear to be different monitors showing different sets of windows within the same user login session. For example, a user may create and use a workspace for office work, enabling a work-related application (such as a word processor or spreadsheet window) to occupy the full monitor, and then may switch to a different workspace created for browsing the Internet or exchanging email messages.
While the aforementioned hardware and software-based solutions facilitate increased consumption of information and computing resources, there remains a need for improved computer systems that support and facilitate the increased needs of computer users for better control over and isolation between their work on multiple projects.